Neither Urban Jungle Nor Urban Village: Women, Families, and Community Development

Health care policy and proposals for national health care reform have become some of the most contentious political issues of the decade. Garland Publishing announces a new series addressing the most significant issues in the area of health care policy and the business of health care in the United States. books in this multidisciplinary series will include studies of health care practice, the health care business, the implications of multicultural perspectives on health care for public policy, the impact of insurance on health care, and debates over national health care policy, including health care reform. This collection of timely works will offer significant scholarly perspectives on one of the most important issues in public policy.How community-based programs workThis study addresses the strengths and limitations of community-based programs to improve social and physical conditions in low-income neighborhoods. By examining how residents' work, family, and civic lives interact, the author explores the connections between a neighborhood's formal institutional structures and its informal social networks. The analysis is based on the stories of women tenant activists who lived in subsidized apartments owned and managed by a non-profit Community Development Corporation serving an African American and Latino working poor neighborhood in Boston.A winning combination of strategiesThe study concludes that one crucial way in which residents successfully cope with poverty is to intertwine three stability strategies: individual, informal collective, and formal collective. Furthermore, although trust levels are high within residents' small networks of family and friends, they arelow at the broader neighborhood level. This general low level of trust presents formidable challenges to building an organization with active resident participation.How to strengthen collective actionsThese results suggest that grassroots collective action is strengthened when it draws on residents' commitments to their family and occupational goals. Thus, policy and practice should address both local economic and social conditions and support programs that encourage residents to utilize all three stability strategies. Moreover, community-based organizations should be assessed on both their concrete accomplishments and their ability to strengthen and enlarge residents' networks.